Was Einstein the first to discover general relativity? March 09, 2020 On November 25, 1915, Einstein submitted one of the most remarkable scientific papers of the twentieth century to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. The paper presented the final form of what are called the Einstein Equations, the field equations of gravity which underpin Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Read More
Women in the gentleman’s career of publishing March 06, 2020 Since March is Women’s History Month in the US, we thought it a great opportunity to take a look back at the story of women in the field of publishing. Read More
The short, sad, and expensive life of mayors on the presidential campaign trail March 06, 2020 Mike Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg each made a big bet on the 2020 presidential campaign. The voters, each believed, thought they could step past partisan bickering to with a pledge to deliver programs that worked better. Who better to do that than a mayor with proven experience? Read More
A leadership class from the ancient world March 03, 2020 For the ancient Greeks and Romans, leadership was studied through examples. One of the best books ever written on the subject, Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus, appears to be a biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great. In fact, it is a manual of statecraft and strategy. Read More
Deaths of despair strike women too March 01, 2020 When Angus Deaton and I began to document the dramatic increases in mortality from drug overdose, alcoholic liver disease and suicide—the deaths of despair that we describe in our new book—we found many things that surprised us. Read More
The roots of Black political unity February 27, 2020 On December 12, 2017, the state of Alabama held a special general election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The race, which had Republican Roy Moore running against Democrat Doug Jones, had already captured national attention. Read More
Soul Searching February 25, 2020 Do you think you have a soul? The modern scientific impulse is to dispense with supposedly occult or “spooky” notions like souls and spirits, and to understand ourselves instead as wholly and completely part of the natural world, existing and operating through the same physical, chemical and biological processes that we find anywhere else in the environment. Read More
Why are Blacks Democrats? February 25, 2020 African Americans are Democrats. Since 1968 no Republican presidential candidate has received more than 13% of the African American vote and surveys of African Americans regularly show that upwards of 80% of African Americans self-identify as Democrats. However, understanding why African Americans are such steadfast supporters of the Democratic Party is not as straightforward as it seems. Read More
Learning Latin lore to generate greater gardeners February 24, 2020 Humans have named and classified the living things around us for many centuries and the system we use today has been generations in the making. The Latin name of a plant is not just a label, but is loaded with information, providing you can translate it. Read More
David Hand on Dark Data February 18, 2020 In the era of big data, it is easy to imagine that we have all the information we need to make good decisions. But in fact the data we have are never complete, and may be only the tip of the iceberg. Read More
By Design | The making of The Obama Portraits February 12, 2020 Every book’s backstory includes the intricacies of its production. That fact was brought home to me in my recent discussion with Steve Sears, Production Manager for art books at Princeton University Press, about the design and manufacture of one of the Press’s most important books of 2020, The Obama Portraits. Read More
Nadia Nurhussein on Black Land February 10, 2020 As the only African nation, with the exception of Liberia, to remain independent during the colonization of the continent, Ethiopia has long held significance for and captivated the imaginations of African Americans. Read More
Craigslist’s lessons for a weirder, more ethical internet February 07, 2020 When I first started teaching undergrad courses on the internet and society, it was 2010. Back then, students usually walked into the classroom with a fairly positive attitude about digital technology. They saw the internet as a vital tool for democracy, an important way to network for future jobs and connect with their friends. Read More
James Baldwin’s reckless idea February 06, 2020 In 1961 James Baldwin found himself in the studios of WBAI radio in New York, looking into the eyes of Malcolm X. Malcolm was, by then, the most recognizable face associated with the Nation of Islam (NOI), a religious sect that was inspiring hope in the hearts of some and fear in the hearts of others. Read More
The smart move: we learn more by trusting than by not trusting February 05, 2020 We all know people who have suffered by trusting too much: scammed customers, jilted lovers, shunned friends. Indeed, most of us have been burned by misplaced trust. These personal and vicarious experiences lead us to believe that people are too trusting, often verging on gullibility. Read More